


It's Just A Trip

by my_dog_pizza_dog



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: I know another field trip, I wrote it like years ago but promptly forgot about it, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a very long time, but I'm back!, yeAH YEAH
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:46:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19178305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_dog_pizza_dog/pseuds/my_dog_pizza_dog
Summary: The AP chemistry class is going on a trip to the Avengers Compound. Peter Parker wants everyone to finally see that he really does know the Avengers, or at least, that's what he thought he wanted. For most of the trip, Flash makes himself look like a jerk, but then he sets out to make Peter look like a fool whose past comes back to haunt him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I'm aware that the field trip trope is overused and dead but this has been in my drive for months so I decided to post it. Also, this was the third or fourth field trip fanfic on fanfiction.net so it doesn't have a lot of the cliches that come with this trope. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but there you have it. Enjoy.

“Hey, Pete, before you go,” Tony says suddenly, and then pauses as Peter sticks his head into the room, “I don’t want you to be surprised so I’m telling you now. Your class is taking a field trip here in January.”

“Here?” Peter’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah. There’ll be a little tour of like the museum-y stuff and some of the less-restricted labs and workshops. Not really any of the Avengers stuff, just the Stark stuff”

“Oh… okay. See you next weekend!”

“Uh huh.”

 

The Sunday Before the Trip

 

Peter and the Avengers were sitting scattered around the living room of the compound as they usually do after a morning workout and before lunch. A few were playing video games, a few were on their phones, and a few were fighting with each other. 

“So tomorrow at that thing, I don’t need to show up or anything, right?” Clint asked, cutting off Bruce who was trying to explain to him how unhealthy drinking so much coffee is.

“Not if you don’t want to. It’s not required or anything, but Bruce and I were planning on popping in to talk science. I’m sure they’d be interested in the mechanics of your bow or your variety of arrows, though, if you wanted to say hi,” Tony told him. A mischievous look appeared on Clint’s face.

“Yeah. I’ll do something like that,” he grinned.

“Peter, what do your classmates know about your internship?” Steve inquired.

“Well, you know Ned can’t keep his mouth shut so they know I work here and I’m here relatively often and I know all of you guys,” Peter answered, his lips quirked up, clearly amused by Ned’s inability to keep a secret.

“Ha!” Sam snorted. “Ned. I like that kid. He’s a character.” The others nodded and “Mm-hm”ed in agreement. Peter had Ned over about once a month. Once Tony got them the LEGO Architecture; Avengers Compound set. That was a fun weekend. Ned also had no trouble telling everyone slightly embarrassing stories about Peter, which Peter didn’t appreciate but the others did.

“So you’d be cool with me saying hi if I see you?” Bucky clarified.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just don’t do anything embarrassing.”

“Us? Embarrass you?” Sam joked. As Peter rolled his eyes the oven dinged. 

“Finally. Time for my next pot of coffee,” Clint said.

 

The Next Morning

 

“You need to pack a lunch, right?” May asked Peter. He was sitting at the table, shoveling oatmeal into his mouth.

“Not anymore. We have leftover lasagna from last night at the compound. Bucky said he’ll heat it up and get it to me for lunch.”

“Well that’s nice of him. But a building full of super soldiers and you can’t finish dinner?” May laughed.

“We had, like, 15 pounds of lasagna plus some vegetables and bread,” Peter said. Aunt May chuckled at the outlandish amount of food.

“I’m glad I don’t have to cook for all of them. Not that you don’t eat like a super soldier sometimes,” she smiled.

“Haha. Yeah.” Peter attempted to cover the sudden panic that overtook him momentarily. May still didn’t know about Spider-Man. “Anyway,” he continued, changing the subject, “I should get going. Don’t want to be late and not get to go on the trip!” May kissed him goodbye and then he threw on his winter coat and hurried out the door, mentally scolding himself for acting suspiciously. 

He jogged down the stairs to the floor level of the apartment building, crossed through the lobby area, and pushed open the doors. He was hit with a jarring gust of wind. Peter put up the hood of his jacket and lowered his head against the breeze. Snowflakes sprinkled down but didn’t stick to the pavement or roads. Music played through his earbuds, blocking out the city noise and roar of the wind. 

The bus stop wasn’t far and he was early so he had time to think about how to deal with the trip, the Avengers, and Flash for the day. He had told everyone the day prior that his class knew about his internship, but he hadn’t mentioned that many people didn’t believe it. He didn’t want anyone to know at first, but after Ned started spreading the word and people started poking fun at him for lying about it he was looking forward to putting the debate at rest. But when he does see the Avengers, should he speak to them professionally? That is how an intern would address them, right? But he doesn’t want it to seem to them that he doesn’t want his classmates to know they’re pretty close because that might hurt their feelings so maybe he should just be normal. And then there’s Flash, who was the number one disbeliever. He was going to be terrible, as usual. But maybe not. He might show off for the Avengers. At that point, the bus arrived, cutting off his train of thought. 

Peter shrugged his backpack higher onto his shoulder, and climbed the steep stairs up to the bus. Immediately, he looked for Ned to make sure his best friend wasn’t absent. Ned looked up and smiled, seeming very jittery with the tour just a few hours away. Peter walked to his seat behind Ned, shimmying around bags and bodies in the aisle of the over-crowded bus. Finally, he slid across the stiff bus bench to the window. 

Placing his bag between his legs, he pulled out his phone and went to Messages. He opened the ongoing conversation with Tony but hesitated before typing. He didn’t know what to write. He didn’t even know why he wanted to message him. Okay, so maybe he did know why. Peter was getting more and more anxious by the second. He wanted to be reassured that the field trip would go off without a hitch. But of course it would. If he could defeat the Vulture, he could get through a field trip.

The bus pulled up to the school and after getting off, Peter went to Ned.

“Dude, this is so awesome!” Ned told him excitedly. “We get to go see the Avengers and prove to Flash that you know them.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to make it seem like I’m bragging or drawing attention to the fact. I don’t think Steve and his righteousness would appreciate it.”

“I thought you said Steve wasn’t anything like Captain America.”

“He’s not, it was a joke. The other day Bucky made the most crude joke I’ve ever heard and he laughed so hard. He likes to say that Cap is an army but he was in the army. I guess in the army they used dirty jokes to make the time pass or something.” 

The boys got inside the building now and headed to their lockers, walking faster than they normally would. Peter needed to go to his locker so they stopped for him to ditch his backpack. There wasn’t a reason for most kids in his class to bring their bags but he had brought study material for academic decathlon which was taking place after school. He put in his combo and swung open the door as Ned chattered on about the day’s event. Peter tossed the bag in, not even bothering to hang it on the hook.

“Peter, hurry up, we’re going to be late,” Ned urged.

“No we’re not, the bus doesn’t leave for another 30 minutes,” Peter said exasperatedly after checking his watch. He closed his locker and the boys continued their fast walk down the hallway to Mr. Harrington’s room when just the person Peter didn’t want to see yelled from behind them.

“Hey Penis! Today when we see Ironman will he speak to you? It’ll kinda suck for you if we all found out that you’re a liar.”

“Is it just me, or were those not even insults?” Ned whispered to Peter.

“Yeah. Who knows, maybe he’s gotten tired of his old ways.”

“Yo Parker! I’m talking to you!” Flash shouted, pushing his way through a group of chorus students standing outside the choir room door. “I can’t wait to meet your personal friend Captain America.”

“Yeah, well, I-I kind of know him as Steve. Steve Rogers so, ah…” Peter ran his fingers through his hair reflexively, as he usually does when in an awkward conversation.

“Just because you googled his name doesn’t mean you’re friends.” Flash fake-smiled apologetically and shrugged. “Though I do have to admit, if there was an Avenger you were friends, which is totally cockamamie, it’d be Captain America. You’re both annoying dorks. If I have to watch another one of his motivational videos I will kill myself.” Flash was the only person Peter could picture saying ‘cockamamie’ unironically.

“Captain America isn’t an annoying dork!” Ned said defensively.

“‘Hi. I’m Captain America, and whether you’re in the classroom or on the-” Flash started in a mocking voice before getting cut off by Michelle.

“Do you think I could get Pepper Potts alone long enough to ask her a few questions?” she wondered.

“I’m sure she’d be open to it,” Peter confirmed.

“Oh, you’re friends with the CEO of a multibillion dollar company too?” Flash asked.

“Flash, shouldn’t you be putting massive amounts of gel in your hair right now or something?” Michelle interjected. Flash glared at her but did leave. Peter and Ned agreed one day at the compound that he’s probably afraid of her. 

“We had that handled,” Peter said to Michelle.

“No you didn’t,” she replied. Peter looked to Ned who shrugged as if to say ‘she’s kind of right’ in response.

When they got to Mr. Harrington’s classroom, most of the rest of the AP chemistry class was already there, talking loudly about the wonders they’d see.

“Do you think Thor will be there?’ A blonde girl who was friends with Liz was asking a brown haired boy.

“Did you know the compound is two square miles?” a boy asked his friend.

“Do you think I could ask Mr. Rogers about what it was like growing up poor in the ‘40s with immigrant parents?” Michelle asked Peter.

“I… My first reaction is no, but it is Steve we’re talking about here. He’d probably love to give a five minute speech on how important civil rights are and how immigrants have always been treated poorly even though the large majority of citizens are from immigrant families,” Peter said in a comically deep voice causing Ned to giggle. Mr. Harrington looked up to see the trio.

“Ah, this looks like everyone. Let’s take roll,” he called. Flash sauntered in just in time and took his seat in the middle of the room. He took roll call in his usual slow and monotonous voice and it seemed to take ages to the eager students. At last the final name was called. Mr. Harrington told the kids to calmly leave their seats and quietly go to the bus so as to not disturb any classes, but everyone was already nearly at the door by the time he said “seats.”

Ned and Peter sat together with Michelle a seat behind them alone. The bus was extremely loud. When the teacher got on the bus with a few parent chaperones he tried to quiet everyone down but gave up rather quickly. The bus started and the hour long trip to the Avengers Compound commenced.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and his classmates meet Pepper, Tony, and Steve Rogers while they start the tour.

“Everyone please- sit down! Sit down, class! Please enter the building collectively, politely, and maturely. We are representing our school here today, so please show that when you enter. Also! Stay close and stay safe. We don’t want another D.C. debacle. It’s a wonder the school still lets us go on field trips after the last two…” Mr. Harrington said, looking off sadly and regretfully.

”And have fun!” one of the chaperones added cheerfully.

“Yes that, too. But safety comes first.” His last words were drowned out by the students standing up and leaving the bus noisily.

Peter’s nerves started to take over. He rubbed the sweat of his palms off on his jeans. He bounced on his heels anxiously. It seemed to take hours for him to get off the bus. It had gotten colder since the walk to the bus stop that morning and now the snow was sticking. It came down hard and covered Peter and his classmates. They all ran to the doors. Everyone crowded together in awe as they noticed Tony Stark and Pepper Potts standing together in the lobby. Flash pushed past Peter, Ned, and Michelle to get closer. 

“Ouch, hey!” Ned whispered at him. 

Mr. Harrington could never get the class to quiet down, but Pepper and Tony could silence them just by existing. 

“Come in, everyone gather around!” Pepper called out. The crowd surged forward. “If you don’t know me, I am Pepper Potts, the CEO of the company. I run everything here. And this is Tony Stark. He invents most things.” Tony raised his hand in greeting.

“They know who I am,” he said. Pepper glared at him. Peter smiled at Tony’s usual antics. 

“We’re splitting you into five groups. Each will start on a different floor with a different guide. The guides have all been handpicked by Tony and I. Anything to add before we split them up?” Pepper looked to Tony, who in turn pointed at Peter.

“You have snow in your hair, kid.” Peter turned red and glared fiercely at Tony who laughed at him, but he did brush it off his head. He was hoping to prove Flash wrong, but not this soon, or in this way.

“Tony…” Pepper scolded.

“What? You made me promise to behave and I am. Look, I even have a clipboard,” Tony replied, holding out the clipboard proudly. Pepper forcefully whispered something that sounded like ‘be professional’ to Peter’s enhanced ears.

“Anyway,” she continued, “let’s split into our groups, shall we? When your name is called, go up to the table right over there where you’ll get a little button to attach to anywhere on your clothes and a sticker name tag you have to put on your shirt for everyone to see. The button is for Friday, the AI that runs the place, to read so that you don’t accidentally set off any security systems.” She rattled off the first few names and their guide, then the next and the following. Peter barely listened; he was planning his revenge on Mr. Stark. “Next group is Edward Leeds,Talia Miller, Carmen Olson, Peter Parker, Thomas Reed, and Eugene Thompson. Your guide is Dr. Amanda Smith. Please follow her to elevator number 7 where you’ll go to floor 4. Please stay together.”

Peter and Ned looked at each other and grinned. The alphabet is usually on their side. Their smiles faded, though, when they heard ‘Eugene Thompson.’ Peter assured himself that Flash wouldn’t be a problem, despite his better judgement. You can’t dwell on the things you can’t change, so the two boys found their way to the table. They were handed their stickers and their buttons. Peter stuck his to his pocket and Ned followed. They then walked to elevator 7 where Dr. Smith was waiting, a genuine smile on her face. Peter recognized her. She had helped Peter get back at Clint after an especially evil prank. She’s pretty chill.

“Did you see Flash’s face when Mr. Stark spoke to you? It was priceless. Do you think one of the security cameras caught it? Do you think you could ask Mr. Stark? Or maybe I could hack it. Actually, no, I don’t want to go to jail,” Ned whispered to Peter as they headed over.

“Ned, sh.” Dr. Smith looked over to them and realization crossed her face.

“Pete, right?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah. Peter. Peter Parker.”

“How’s Clint been to you?” she wondered with a mischievous smirk.

“Better,” Peter laughed. Flash looked between the two with disbelief. Peter thought that was what he wanted, but now he didn’t like the attention. It was sure to go south at some point.

Amanda turned to address the group. “We’ll be starting on level four. We’ll have 45 minutes on each floor plus a 45 minute lunch. That’ll be plenty of time on each floor, don’t worry.” The elevator doors opened and they all entered. Amanda tapped the number 4 and the doors slid shut. Flash looked to be making an evil plot in his head. There was no way this was going to be an easy day. Tom and Talia looked around in wonder. Ned was nearly shaking with excitement, even though he’d been to level 4 before. Peter was just hoping the day would go quickly. There was a ding and the door slid open. Amanda led the way out and across the hall. 

“Are all the Avengers here?” Ned asked.

“I don’t know,” Peter told him. “A few are, I’m sure of that, and we’ll be seeing at the very least Tony and Bruce.”

“Bruce?” Tommy said excitedly. “Like, Bruce Banner?”

“Yeah, Bruce Banner.”

“Oh, so you know Bruce Banner aka the most renowned scientist of our time now?” Flash demanded.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I’ve been with him a few times.” Flash scoffed. Hearing it, Amanda cleared her throat.

“So this is lab 43. It’s focus is rewriting genes so that one day anyone with a superpower they don’t want can have it genetically removed.”

“Why would anyone want to get rid of a superpower?” Flash asked, in a way that implied that anyone who’d want to get rid of powers is stupid and less than him.

“Many don’t. Not all powers are good, and not everyone can handle the stress of a hero, or the guilt of not being one. It can also be hard to control powers so a good person could end up hurting other good people, or a bad person could accidentally be given powers that could kill people. Many people don’t ask for powers but it happens through accidents or experiments gone wrong or by someone forcing it onto them. It’s wrong to force someone to have a power that they don’t want and that someone else forced upon them,” Amanda informed him. Flash turned away, embarrassed. Amanda seemed satisfied, so she proceeded in her speech. “We are still years away from our goal, maybe even decades. We’re trying something few people have tried before us, and we’re trying it before all of the right technology has even been invented yet, but thanks to a few Wakandan scientists we are on our way to the tech of tomorrow. Any questions?”

“Yeah, I have one,” Talia piped up. Dr. Smith nodded to her. “If you can splice and rewrite the genetics of mutants and take away their power, could you also change an average person’s genes? To like, give someone straight hair or green eyes or something?”

“In theory, yes, but that isn’t something we’re striving to do. Once we can perfect the science, other labs outside of Stark Industries can do something of the sort. Anything else?” Carmen raised her hand. “Yes?”

“Why won’t Stark Industries do that? I’d imagine it’d bring in quite a revenue,” she said.

“It probably would, but here we aren’t going to use our scientists to invent ways to alter someone’s appearance, we feel that our resources are better spent helping people as a whole. Make sense?” Everyone nodded. “Alright! Then if you’ll follow me, our next stop is the nano tech lab. Please refrain from touching anything.” She led the way out of the lab and down the hall past a few closed doors.

“Do you know what’s in there?” Ned asked.

“Uh, I think that's a broom closet,” Peter told him.

“Oh. You know, we should really go to the labs more often,” Ned informed Peter.

“Ned, sh!” He scolded, glancing around to make sure no one heard Ned. They didn’t need to know that he practically lived there over each weekend and that Ned came over for playdates.

Ned lowered his voice. “We rarely leave the private section.”

“Okay, okay. Next time you come over we’ll go to a few labs.”

“That’s this weekend,” Ned reminded him.

“Right. This weekend.” When he looked back up, he saw Dr. Amanda Smith had stopped in front of an ajar door. 

“In this lab, you’re going to be able to walk around and see all of the different tests, experiments, and prototypes. I believe that Mr. Stark’s initial nanosuit prototype is in here, which I will be sure to point out.” All of the students exchanged excited looks. “Well, without further ado…” She pushed open the door and walked dutifully into the lab. There were desks and tables in neat rows with less neat papers and laptops strewn about. The walls were lined with glass cases, showcasing various projects with labels except for the back wall. That one was covered in metal, metal alloys, circuit boards, wires, and blueprints everywhere. “All of the scientists present are willing to explain their current project so feel free to ask around, or you can read about completed projects on these three walls and study blueprints on the back wall. You have 20 minutes. Have fun! Oh, and the Ironman suit is right over there, it’s in the dormant state and looks like an arc reactor.”

Flash strutted over to a young scientist, trying to flaunt his superiority over the others, namely Peter, by showing how he can talk to Stark scientists. Ned pointed it out to Peter and they laughed at him. 

“What an idiot,” Ned mused. “Let’s look at the showcases first.”

“Okay. Nano tech is really interesting. You obviously can’t expand a piece of solid metal, so they need to make a sort of fabric of metal and air for when it expands that is as strong as solid metal, or something like that.”

“We should make something with it for the next science fair! Something cool, not just like an expanding duck or something, maybe like a hat.”

“A hat?”

“Okay, that’s stupid. We’ll come up with something better.” Ned and Peter were looking around at everything between an expanding square of metal to an expanding shield.

“It’s a prototype of what is potentially going to be my new shield,” someone said behind the boys. They both of course recognized the voice and turned to see everyone, students and scientists alike, staring at the one and only Steve Rogers. “Hey Peter, Ned. I didn’t realize you two would be in here. Sam sent me to get the blueprints for it. He said Tony told me to, though I now realize that he was hoping I’d run into you to you and embarrass you. I might as well, I mean I’m here, so why not?”

“Oh god no,” Peter whispered to himself. Steve chuckled.

“I’m kidding. Maybe later. See you around.” He waved to everyone and addressed the other students. “Stay safe kids, don’t do drugs, do your school work, be nice to everyone.”

“Didn’t you take a whole bunch of experimental drugs and haven’t stopped killing people since?” Peter asked.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“I’m Captain America.” Peter rolled his eyes as Steve left the room. Once he was out, Flash’s mouth started running.

“Why am I not surprised that out of all of the cool superheroes Parker knows the worst one. Seriously, he’s a bad role model and he’s such a dweeb.”

“Kindly shut the hell up,” the young scientist he had been talking to previously said. Flash glowered and stalked over to the other side of the room. Ned, Peter, Carmen, Tom, and Talia all burst out laughing.

“I think it’s time to move on to the next lab,” Amanda said suddenly. “Any objections?” No one had any, though Peter thought it was because everyone was afraid of Amanda. She does keep a stern countenance while at work, but he knows of how immature she can be. As the students exited the room, Peter made sure to check out the badge of the young scientist, which read ‘Dr. R. Yang.’ Peter repeated it a few times in his head to make sure he remembered it and vowed to find her over the weekend and thank her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be on vacation next week so hopefully I'll be able to update but if I don't, that's why.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's AP Chem class moves on to a demo room where they meet Natasha, Clint, and Pepper. Flash is a jerk but what's new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. I haven't updated in a year. I completely forgot it. Forgive me, I am stupid. That's my only excuse.

“We have 15 minutes left to spend in here. It’s a demo room, which is sort of like a museum. People come in here for inspiration sometimes but usually they come in to test how different pieces of tech work to see how it can be translated into whatever they’re working on. We have a few of these rooms, and this one has predominantly files of information on biochemical enhancing, genetic rewriting, nano-analyzation, and each microscopic difference between all types of blood including that of a mutant, but there are a few models and working prototypes. You can look around and read through the files and notes and even touch the models,” Dr. Smith announced. The students excitedly scuttled away, hands out and ready to touch. Ned was no exception, so Peter followed him over to a filing cabinet. It seemed out of place in the high tech building, but it also made sense for there to be paper notes. Each note was laminated and organized carefully. The boys rummaged through them, pulling out various ones that seemed the most interesting.

“Yooo! Look at this one, it’s the notes from the original nanotech. We could use these as research for the science project,” Ned said.

“I don’t know Ned. If these aren’t published we might not be allowed to,” Peter told him hesitantly.

“Oh. Yeah. We could ask Mr. Stark next time we’re here,” Ned suggested. Peter nodded in agreement, not tearing his eyes from some messy sketches of mutant genes. A voice behind suddenly started talking, startling them both as they never heard someone come up behind them.

“I am Natasha aka Natalia aka Black Widow here to show you how not to suck as a person.” Peter stared at her in horrified silence. “Well, actually, how to not fight like a dumbass but same thing.”

“Natasha, I’m not sure if this is the best idea…” Amanda started but stopped under Nat’s harsh gaze.

“I would like for everyone to get in a fighting position,” she ordered the class. They all jumped into stance in fear of her wrath. “You,” she pointed to Carmen, “your whole body is facing me, giving me more to hit. You,” she pointed to Talia, “what are you doing with your fists? How are you supposed to hit someone or dodge a strike in such an awkward position? Relax your body, feet shoulder width apart. Better. You,” she turned to Flash. “I don’t even know where to start. Your best bet in a fight is to run.” Flash turned bright red and looked down. “Ned, have you been taking lessons with Peter?” Ned nodded. “I can tell, not bad. Peter, very nice. You, bend your knees, hands up farther,” she said to Thomas.

“Ms. Romanoff, I really don’t think-” Amanda Smith tried again.

“I was half their age when I learned. Now, d-”

“Nat!” Clint yelled, throwing open the door.

“Clint, I told you already; I’m not going to get you a dog and a hearing-ear service dog doesn’t exist so don’t pull that one on me again.”

“Oh, kill me now,” Peter told Ned.

“That’s not why I’m here. Friday told me you were coming to embarrass Peter and then I found out you were going to teach them how to fight and then fight Pete so I had to come and stop you because you can’t hurt him since I haven’t pranked him yet.”

“No. Please, no,” Peter said.

“Oh, yes!” Clint replied.

“Oh, god.” Peter put his head in his hands.

“Now about that dog-”

“No, Clint.”

“Yes, Clint.”

“No. That is the final decision.” 

“Sorry, I can’t hear you I’m actually deaf ask my doctor Bruce Banner.”

“He’s not even a real doctor!”

“What was that?”

“Clint, you’re being childish.”

“Can- can you try to maybe act out what you’re trying to say?”

“I will kick you, Hawkass.”

“Guy nill gig loo? Sorry, what? Do you know sign language?” Nat grabbed him by the arm and stomped out, dragging him behind her.

“Are they always like that?” Carmen asked Peter.

“No, no. They’re usually much worse. We’ll be seeing more of them today, so you’ll be able to see them in their natural habitat later; destroying lives.”

“Why was he saying that stuff about, like, a hearing dog and being deaf and stuff?” Thomas wondered.

“He’s deaf. He only talks about it when he’s using it as a joke or to his advantage or something. He’s got these little hearing aids that Tony made that go like in his ears or something so you can’t see them. Around the compound, though, he usually uses regular ones. They’re apparently way more comfortable.” 

“Yeah, sure, Parker. A deaf superhero, makes sense. Tiny hearing aids aren’t real, that’s not how it works. Such a liar.”

“Who’s a liar?” Pepper demanded, having just entered the room. Peter was immensely relieved; Pepper was one of his favorite Avengers and she would surely not do anything to turn him a deeper shade of red.

“Oh, uh, I mean…”

“What’s that?”

“Uh… Peter. Peter Parker.”

“Really? Because I’ve known him to be a lot of things but a liar isn’t one of them.”

“You know Peter?”

“I know all of the interns. I run the company, remember?”

“Y-yes. Ma’am.”

“Now, what’d he lie about?”

“He- he.”

“Peter. What’s he talking about?” She turned her back to Flash and faced Peter.

“He says superheroes can’t be deaf.”

“Does he? And why’s that?” She turned back to Flash.

“Because, ah, superheroes are, you know, superheroes and superheroes don’t have, like, disabilities and stuff.”

“I hope you realize how stupid you sound right now.” With that, Pepper Potts turned on her high-heel and strutted out. She paused at the door and looked over her shoulder at Amanda Smith. “I’m sure you’re on top of it, but three minutes left. You can head to the elevator now, they’re a little backed up at the moment with the shift change, and I’ll be speaking to the Avengers to get them to act more professional and stop bothering you.” Then she was gone.

“Okay, kids, wrap it up. And please, don’t be rude to anyone or I’ll have to talk to you about it and no one wants that. Especially me,” Dr. Smith told the students.

“This day is so much worse than I thought it’d be,” Peter said to Ned.

“Yeah, it kind of sucks but at the same time it’s awesome. Not really for you, but for me.”

“Great. Glad one of us isn’t hating life right now.”

“Look on the bright side, at least you, or rather, the Avengers, have proved Flash wrong multiple times.”

“Yeah, but that won’t stop him.” They returned their files to the cabinet and trudged over to the door. As they left and headed back towards the elevator, Flash leaned over to them.

“You’ll regret even waking up this morning by the end of the day.”

“Really? Because you’re the one who looks like a jackass today,” Ned told him.

“Oh, you’re going to be sorry.”

“Hey!” Amanda called from ahead of them. “Please, stay with the group.” They hurried up to rejoin them. Flash pushed ahead to the front of the pack. Ned and Peter were perfectly content staying back and away from him. 

They waited for an elevator for a few full minutes because every time one arrived it was full of people, models, and machines. Finally, another class arrived and Peter’s replaced it. They rode down to the ground floor so the few scientists scattered in with the group could get off before going back up to floor 5. Ned and Peter guessed at the next Avenger they’d see next the whole ride. The conclusion was Sam. How he wished he had been right.

“Welcome to floor five. This is the most private floor as well as the highest. Most rooms are restricted but there are numerous that aren’t on the west side. The east sides of every floor get more and more restricted the farther you go. Floor five east wing, though, is the Avengers’ personal living quarters. Floor four private east is personal labs, three is personal medical rooms, and two only has one private room which is rumored to be full of snacks. It’s not verified, though.

“Anyway, we’re starting in one of the slightly more restricted labs. It’s where some of the top scientists of the country and even the world work when they aren’t in the even more restricted labs. Here all sorts of scientists join together to invent new products. Currently, they’re trying to construct drones that can carry hundreds of gallons of drinking water to places around the world. Any questions before we go in?”

“How big are these drones?” Carmen asked, inching closer to the front of the pack.

“Well, the answer has several parts due to their trials and errors so I think it would be best to let the presenter explain it,” Amanda replied. The students looked at each other excitedly. Whispers were exchanged.

“Who do you think it is?” Ned wondered.

“No one good, that’s for sure. Well, unless it’s Shuri. That’d be awesome, and she is an inventor so it would make sense.. But I don’t think she’s here. She’s in California right now or something.”

“Shuri? Wait, like the princess of Wakanda? You know Shuri?”

“Ha!” Flash laughed. “Wow, you know, I guess it’s believable that you know Captain Shitface and the deaf ‘superhero’” he added air quotes here, “that’s neither super nor hero and prances around with a weapon from the paleolithic era, but come on. Princess Shuri of Wakanda? Please.”

Peter rolled his eyes but didn’t reply.

“Hey, Flash. Not another rude word out of you,” Dr. Smith scolded angrily. Flash grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's this other fic that I've been working on for a while now that I was planning on posting next August but I've started writing about the quarantine. The basic plot of it is Phil adopted Thor, Bucky, Steve, Tony, Bruce, Steven, Natasha, Clint, and Peter and they're all in high school and they get in trouble and stuff. Phil's the principal and it just follows the life of some teenagers as they navigate becoming a family. Would you like if I started posting the quarantine chapters now with any background information you would need in the notes but just knowing that when quarantine is over I'll post a new work that essentially takes place in the past but includes the quarantine chapters later on or just start posting the fic now from the start? It starts out at the beginning of the school year and my plan was for the school year in the fic to match up to the actual school year. I also haven't finished the fic so if I start the quarantine chapters now, when I repost it I may have to make some changes, but if I start from the beginning, by the time we get to the quarantine the whole COVID-19 mess might be over. I could also post the quarantine part as a completely separate work and just have two fics with the same characters and the same background information. I'm not opposed to any of these ideas, so leave your thoughts below:)


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